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Speaker size and soundstage

Question: for floor standing speakers, how does speaker size affect sound stage, bass response, and the depth of music?

I’m searching for a new speaker, and just tested Dynaudio Contour 30 against Tekton Electrons (16x18 room with cathedral ceiling). Tekton’s are bigger (48 vs 45 high, and 10 vs 8.5 wide, about the same depth) and had a much larger sound stage and greater dynamics and depth. Tekton’s as a rule are much bigger than most other brands, which can be imposing in a room, but the size must equate to a greater sound stage. 
But can a smaller tower be designed to achieve the same sound stage and bass depth of a bigger speaker? If so, what what speakers pull this off?
w123ale
sandthemall
544 posts
 
I got a fairly holographic presentation and deep bass with a standard version of the Salk Songtowers with at least half my LPs in my old 18' x 26' room. In my new place, they sound pretty good with better bass balance but not so magical.

It's about total system synergy and there's no way to tell until you get them into your room.
cat_doorman
237 posts
 
The size of the cabinet has more to do with efficiency than anything else. Given the same bass extension, a larger cabinet will require less power than a smaller one. That’s the trade off for low end - really big or really inefficient speakers. The size of the soundstage has more to do with dispersion and baffle effects and setup. Maybe someone has a link they can post to a useful video or paper by an actual expert. 
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 
Forget either, and go out and buy some big azz Tannoys...you will get what you are looking for. My choice for you, the Ardens. Thank me later....although, I will point out that the cheap diamond 225's are a bit of a miracle little speaker...they produce an incredibly wide sound stage and produce copious amounts of bass for their size and price. I still own mine, despite now having tannoys....read about them in stereophile, $449 and a crazy good little speaker if on a budget. 
knotscott
931 posts
 
Sound stage has more to do with phasing, crossover points, driver dispersion, driver placement, and the shape and size of the front baffle than actual cabinet size. It’s also heavily influenced by placement, and the rest of the system.
w123ale OP
108 posts
 
Such fantastic input; greatly appreciated! 
I changed the setup yesterday by swapping out entry level cables with higher end cables. The dynamics in both speaker changed dramatically with both opening way up. 
The Tektons now have much greater extension, but are a little sibilant (may mellow as the wire burns in). The Dyns  soundstage is expanded substantially and they now fill the room and feel, perhaps, more balanced than the Tektons—more listening needed!

So to confirm other comments, the system and electronics do of course make a difference here, and in my case the speaker wire seemed to be an earlier limiting factor.
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